Takeaways

1. Increase Your Failure Rate: If you’re the person being rejected or constantly being told “no,” it may be hard to hear that you need to increase the amount of times you should actually hear it. But, the real question for you is what opportunities are you leaving on the table simply by not asking the question? What deals could you have kept alive if you had just asked the question? What other products could you have bundled in the sale if you had just asked the question? What referrals could you have got if you had just asked the question?
2. Stay Curious: After you’ve heard “no," what is the next best question you can ask? If you can start to plan your conversations to elicit “no” responses, you can then also start to plan for a strategic follow-up question. Think about what is actually being said when you hear “no.” What additional context can you gain by building upon their response?
3. Practice in Everyday Life: I mentioned in the conversation, my #1 mantra is that you’ll never get anything in life you don’t ask for, so start asking. That applies not only to sales, but everyday things like shopping, dining, travel accommodations, personal relationships, and even dating. If you ask and get a “no” you haven’t really lost anything because you never had it to begin with. But if you ask and get a “yes” you gained 100% of whatever the ask was. To me, this is really a no lose situation.

Full Notes

• https://www.salestuners.com/andrea-waltz/

Book Recommendation

• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz

Sponsor

• Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.

AskJB:

1. “Is it better to research your prospect before cold calling or just pick up the phone and dial?” [2:35-3:22]
2. “What does one do when a promising lead turns cold or goes dark?” [3:37-5:26]
3. “I have a deal in my pipeline that has hit a wall, how can I go over their head to the person who is likely more interested in the solution we can provide?” [3:52-5:26]
4. “When a prospect was very engaged in the sales process but then goes cold, what do you recommend to do to re engage them?” [4:10-5:26]
5. “There’s a lot going on with GDPR right now, how might that lengthen or change the sales process for customers with international data implications?” [5:27-7:25]
6. “What are a couple of things a new BDR should do first to get up to speed quickly and start dialing?” [7:30-8:22]
7. “What is one thing an exceptional sales person does that the average sales person would find surprising, and similarly, what does an average sales person do that an exceptional sales person would find equally surprising?” [8:28-10:14]
8. “What is the number one issue sales teams are experiencing” [10:19-11:08]
9. “I’m hiring my first sales rep after doing everything myself for the first six months — what are the things I need to do before they start and during the first 30 days to maximize their chance of success?” [11:14-12:14]
10. “How does a company know which sales methodology is right for their organization?” [12:19-13:21]

If you’ve got a challenge you’ve been working through and would like to #AskJB for help, simply go to SalesTuners.com/AskJB.

Sponsor

• Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do. 

Takeaways

1. Run an Attraction Campaign: From primary research to brainstorming sessions and even success stories, these tactics can at least get you a first meeting. From there, it’s up to you to educate your buyer with new ideas and perspectives while simultaneously weaving in your capabilities and offerings.
2. Shake Up the Complacency Mindset: Your biggest competitor in a sales cycle is status quo. You have to help prospects see that where they are is not nearly as good as where they want to be. Notice I said “where they want to be,” not where you want them to be. Figure out how to get them to see that it’s worthwhile for them to attempt a change and you unlock the best value in the relationship.
3. Be Present for the Elusive Time of Need: For the short term thinkers out there, this one will frustrate you. There are some products and services that require an active need in order for the prospect to buy. For certain buyers that window may only be every 2-3 years. By building relationships now and growing your network, you can ensure that you’ll at least have a shot when the time comes. Additionally, if you’re building relationships with the right people, rest assured they have friends who they could refer you to in the meantime.

Full Notes

• https://www.salestuners.com/mike-schultz

Book Recommendations

• On Writing Well by William Zinsser
• Consultative Selling by Mack Hanan

Sponsor

• Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.

Takeaways

1. Be Responsive and Get Shit Done: When you’re working at a company that is really going somewhere, everybody has a hundred things on their plate and constantly shifting priorities. If you want to stand out, be the person that volunteers for new projects and make sure to follow through. Once you say you’ve got it, don’t be the person that someone else has to follow-up with or check-in on. This exposure is what will make you great in the future.
2. Hone in on Your Top Segments: The simplest definition of a segment is a group of people who can be reached with the same go-to-market strategy combined with the same product. This will not only help define territories by way of geography, industry, or company size but really it will help create repeatability in your messaging — making your product easier to sell at a lower cost-per-acquisition. This focus doesn’t mean you can’t go after other segments later, it just keeps you on target with your limited resources.
3. Generate Interest First: When you’re doing outbound sales, realize you’re connecting with suspects — not leads. This should start to change your thinking a bit about how you talk to them. Starting with the right market segment, your first job is to find out whether or not they even have a problem you can solve or if there is an opportunity to improve something in their business. Then, and only then, are you able to generate interest and deliver your pitch.

Full Notes

• https://www.salestuners.com/liz-cain

Book Recommendation

• Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

Sponsor

• Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.

Takeaways

1. Stick With What Works: Once you find a system that works, stick with it. As obvious as it may sound, too often we want to tinker with things out of boredom. Your goal should be to strip everything down to the smallest set of choices you can possibly have and then run those plays consistently.
2. Lean Into Objections: The buyer knows every objection they’re going to come up with before they ever decided to talk to you. And unfortunately, they’re not just going to go away. That said, don’t shy away from them. Lean directly into them and have the conversations about known challenges as early in the process as possible. This will accelerate the good deals and get you out of the bad deals.
3. Strip Out Complexity: Regardless of how much your product can do, figure out the top 3-4 pain points your ideal customers face and solve for those. That’s it. Now, you may be thinking that comment should be focused on your internal product team, but it’s not. When you talk about all the features you can provide, all you do is confuse people including yourself. Focusing on a smaller subset of real value help you create the right conversation and position accordingly.

Full Notes

• https://www.salestuners.com/scott-leese

Book Recommendation

• The 48 Laws Of Power by Robert Greene

Sponsor

• Costello-What if every sales rep inherited the habits of your best rep? With Costello, they do.